I beat Dark Souls 1 a few days before giving Elden Ring a try; the open-world and lack of options for the build I wanted in the early game made it incredibly frustrating, working with weapons I didn't like with a world that didn't grasp me. As soon as I entered the capital, everything changed! I got my weapon of choice, the Envoy's Long Horn, and redistributed my points for a faith and strength build! I used the Coded Sword for a secondary weapon and a mix of support and damage incantations. The world began to open up as I found my way around it, discovering new and unique locations, and bosses and enemies became much easier to deal with as I had a stronger weapon that I enjoyed using. I'm thinking about coming back and doing a co-op run, excited to experiment more with what Elden Ring has to offer after finding so many unique weapons in the latter half of the game.